One of the companies showing how tech can revolutionize farming is AeroFarms. They’ve created a farming system that allows the leafy greens found in all our salads to be grown without need of sunlight, soil, or pesticides. The completely controlled environment for growing also uses 95% less water and allows for much more intensive farming meaning greater yields.
As the video explains, AeroFarms uses a smart aeroponics system which mists the roots of their plants with just the right amount of water, nutrients, and oxygen. The huge water saving is achieved through a combination of that control and a closed-loop system meaning no water is ever wasted.
Growing is achieved with a special LED light that has had its spectrum, intensity, and frequency adjusted to perfectly suit photosynthesis on a per plant basis. AeroFarms even go so far as to say they can “control size, shape, texture, color, flavor, and nutrition” using such smart lighting. As for pests, the way in which growing happens doesn’t allow for the life cycle of common pests to happen, and so no pesticides are required.
Is this the future of farming? Probably. The fact it can be done so intensively and pretty much anywhere in the world with a reliable power supply makes it a highly desirable method of food production. And AeroFarms isn’t the only company involved in this futuristic farming. Toshiba has turned an old floppy disc factory into a farm growing lettuce that doesn’t need washing. Meanwhile, Japanese company Spread has a farm run by robots set to produce 30,000 lettuce a day.